Water mark

Architectural Review, The, Oct, 1997

An appreciation of maritime romance is inherent in Antonello Boschi's spare design of a restaurant and nightclub in Follonica, a seaside town on the west coast of Italy, opposite the island of Elba. From a distance, the small wooden building perched above the sea on stilts at the end of the pier has the ramshackle picturesqueness common to seaside shacks and pier buildings all over the world. Close to, you can see that it is shipshape polished and neatly painted. L'Arca is at the end of an old wooden pier built out from a wharf into the sea, Its presence is advertised at the wharf's edge by an illuminated sign running down the side of a vertical aerofoil clad in riveted steel sheet. The cladding extends horizontally at the bottom to cover the base of a wooden bench; at night a line of porthole lamps set into the floor and underneath the bench take you to L'Arca's double wooden doors and into the interior.

On plan, the building is more or less rectangular, with an extension at the rear giving onto an open deck surrounded by sea. The roof is in three sections falling down in height towards the rear, each one neatly indicating a division. From the entrance, to the left is the bar counter and, right, a curved wall containing lavatories. The next and main section is the cafe/bar with a stage for live music in one corner; and beyond this the dining room extension opens onto the deck and sea.

Internally the composition, interspersed with jazzy moments, refers to the design of classic ocean liners. The floor of polished wood is like ship's decking; the cherrywood panelling on the walls has an old-fashioned sobriety land does something to absorb noise), and the propeller-like reflectors of suspended lamps in the main dining room look like tropical fans.

Gleaming stainless-steel sheet has been used to clad columns, the bar and walls of washrooms and lavatories. The material provides glamour and a durable easily-cleaned surface in public areas, the bar counter is sleek and clad with smooth and textured stainless steel, and perforations in the wooden panelling of the wall behind it admit strings of tiny circular lamps, emphasising the lines of sanded glass shelves.